Week 5 Entry

Creating Lifelong Learners - Digital Literacy, Higher Level Thinking, Closing the Digital Divide by Matthew Needleman was a very enjoyable blog.

What?

• Like his subtitle suggests, this blog is about helping teachers become lifelong learners and being proactive about learning about technology and other things. Needleman has great ideas, reviews of new technology, rules about copyrights (that he explains in his self-made film) and writes in an easy to understand way that is engaging.



• Needleman's most recent entry was a great example of how teachers can asses what areas their students are struggling in and which areas the teacher needs to improve in. Basically, the students names are written on the lefthand side of the page and the subjects they learn go along the top. If a student is doing well in a particular subject, he/she gets a green dot, if not, a red one. You can gage if a teacher needs to re-think their teaching on a certain subject if many students have a red dot in that subject. I thought it was a very simple, yet clever way of assessing both students and yourself as a teacher at the same time.

So What?

• This blog is great for teachers who want a well informed person to let them know what to be aware of; new technologies that are out there (like the ipad), things to think about in the classroom (like whether or not holiday celebrations are appropriate), and also links to other helpful sources.



• As a teacher, I can see how it could become easy to get stuck in my little world where I am not learning from others and don't realize the support that is out there from people who are just like me. This blog highlights things teachers have posted in a section Needleman calls, "Day in a Sentence", where he highlights things teachers write about reflecting on their day.

Now What?

• As I become a teacher it is good to know what is going on in the world of teaching. A blog like this one will help me to think about the things that will affect me as a teacher. Which technologies would be helpful? What can we do in the classroom to become a better teacher? Though I will probably not agree with everything Needleman says, it is good to have the perspective of someone who is out there in the field and seems knowledgeable about his subject.